Anna Kendrick Wanted as Santa Claus in Disney Christmas Comedy

Disney has had a truly staggering amount of success over the last year at the box office and interestingly enough, a lot of that still has to do with their original movies. Despite having massive franchises like the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars, their original movies like Zootopia still do very well. So, why not do an original Christmas movie with Anna Kendrick? It looks like that may be the plan and what's more is that the 31-year-old actress would actually be playing Santa Claus.

According to a report from Variety, Disney is eyeing Anna Kendrick for a currently Untitled Disney Female Santa Claus Movie that would see her taking on the role of St. Nick. The movie has a working title of Nicole, which seems fitting based on the description, but that title hasn't been finalized. Here is how Variety is describing the movie.

"Currently going by the running title "Nicole," the story revolves Santa's daughter who is forced to take over the family business when her father decides to retire and brother ends up getting cold feet prior to his first big Christmas Eve flight."

The movie was written by Marc Lawrence, who is probably best known for his work on the Miss Congeniality movies. The report notes that, should the project actually come together, he would also direct. His last directorial effort was The Rewrite in 2014 which he also wrote and saw Hugh Grant starring, but that movie didn't really crossover into the mainstream. As a director, he hasn't really had a breakout hit but he has definitely had success as a screenwriter. With Disney behind Nicole and with a star like Anna Kendrick, this could be his chance to change that.

As for Anna Kendrick, she is certainly keeping busy even without the responsibility of having to deliver gifts to kids all around the world. She is currently filming Pitch Perfect 3, which has been a very profitable franchise up to this point and helped cement her as a bankable star. She kept really busy in 2016, starring in a couple of smaller movies with Get a Job and The Hollars, but she also was in the limelight quite a bit. She starred in the R-rated comedy Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates opposite Aubrey Plaza as well as providing a voice for the animated Trolls movie and she was the female lead in the Ben Affleck thriller The Accountant.

2016 really only had Office Christmas Party to offer in terms of holiday movies, so something like this could fill a gap that perceivably exists. Disney certainly made their money during the holiday season, though, with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story dominating the last couple of weeks last year. That said, they could drop something like the tentatively titled Nicole in November and potentially have a movie that could rake in money over the course of several weeks right through Christmas without getting in the way of Star Wars, since it seems like they are pretty set on putting those movies out in December from now on. There is no word on when Disney would want to release the movie, but 2017 seems like a bit of a stretch, so it seems like a safe bet they would plan to get it ready for Christmas 2018.